What is it like to have a consultation with a wedding videographer?
What questions do you ask and why do you ask them?
Why does it matter?
In this blog post we will address all the important questions for a bride, groom, and families searching for a wedding videographer. We will address these topics and questions in a very general manner so that this will apply for any couple preparing for any videographer. However, we will also then bring in the scope of view to how we, as your upstate South Carolina wedding videographer, approach a consultation and our answers to these important questions. In a sense you could count this as our pre-consultation-consultation and when we meet we could dive right into deeper details specific to your wedding day!!
A consultation with any potential wedding vendor is never a bad thing. It can be a great way to learn their personality, style, approach, and level of professionalism. These are all just a sample of reasons why it is good to have a consultation. The wedding videographer will learn many important details about the couple and where they are in their planning, desires, and expectations…
Now, once a couple has decided to pull the trigger and schedule this initial meeting, what is it like?
All interested parties gather together, get to know one another, and the dive into details. Couples enter this appointment from across the spectrum in regard to their reason, expectations, and hopeful outcome. Some come to the conversation with not realizing how much they want/need a wedding video – they are on the fence of the importance. Some come to the conversation with knowing the importance of this keepsake, but do not know what the options may be. Finally, some brides (and sometimes grooms) come knowing exactly what they want and need to know if the vendor is the right fit for their vision.. There are couples may have come to the consultation with a little of all the above with some overlapping. Let us navigate each of these..
…on the fence with having a wedding videographer:
Why should I have a wedding videographer?
Before I even address this question – why don’t we allow you to dig into this a bit on your own.. PerryPro know the facts we have the stats memorized.. Post to your social media or poll a few people currently in the room with with you: Ask them, “did you have a wedding videographer?” If their answer is “no,” follow up with, “do you regret not having a videographer?” We already know the answer you will receive. The biggest regret for all brides (who did not have a videographer) is….. Not having a videographer.
You will not take many things with you from your wedding day. You will most importantly have your spouse (hopefully?), possibly your professional photos (which is a must), and maybe a to-go box of food (which may be cold by the time you get to it).. You will miss so many of the very details and moments of which you spent so many weeks, months, an entire life planning.. With a video you will experience all of the above. With a video you will get the chance to attend your own wedding day as if a fly on the wall or attending as a guest. With a video you will be able to hear the emotion in the words spoken and feel the love as as your day unfolds.
We actually have an entire blog post dedicated to those in this camp… For further reading: Is wedding video really necessary?
…I’d like a wedding video but don’t know the options:
What is your style?
Engaged couples and their families need to be asking this question of wedding videographers to be sure to find and secure one who will deliver a final product with a style that suits the couple, as paying customer. Some styles don’t suit the couple and vice versa and that is okay. It is best to find this out before delivery of the final product. Some ideas of styles: traditional, documentary, cinematic, short form. Now, don’t stop at knowing with just a one word answer on this – dig deeper and learn more. For instance, if cinematic kind of feel, will the company produce in the edits: romantic, fun, serious, funny, and/or a blend? If documentary, will the videographer stay purely as a fly on the wall out of the way or will he/she help stage a few things and be more “in the mix” while documenting. Be sure your personalities and desires will blend with their style.
What are your package options?
What are the options, literally. Get details and discuss options to take with you and discuss later with your family to make sure you know exactly what you want. In hearing the options explained in detail you may pick up on a thing or two you had not thought of or previously discussed. For instance, you may not have considered rehearsal dinner coverage and did not even know that was an option or the significance of the happenings that evening will mean to you as a keepsake until your consultation. Ask questions that may help lead into the following question:
Are their hidden or add on fees for some of what you offer or is it all inclusive?
Will you be paying what was discussed or are there hidden fees and/or fine print to be aware of? Some videographers charge by blocked time limits. If your party goes long what will your videographer do in that situation? Are there transportation or lodging fees? If the vendor you are meeting with has a drone will they charge more to have it flown? Will extra copies cost more money?
What will be delivered and how? Our final product will be what?
Great question (it’s as if I wrote it myself)!! Find out if your videos will delivered as media files electronically or delivered on dvds. If DVDs, will it be one long continuous show, or how will it appear when we put our DVD in the player?
…I know what I want
With this knowledge your questions will be much more specific and tailored to exactly what it is you’d like.. Having said that, a few additional questions or “bonus” questions will be posted here for you to consider as you prepare. We know some of these will not apply as you may not care to know about “exactly how” the videographer achieves his/her success – which is fine. However, do not ignore the first suggested question:
Will you be capturing audio, how, and what will the quality be?
To those who want to be sure the vows are captured, the toasts, and all the meaningful moments of your day – DO NOT SKIP this. Without audio (and quality audio in our opinion) the video suffers greatly. Find out if the officiant will be mic’d, the groom, readers, singers, house audio, and/or all of the above. Will the mics be wireless? If so, this may interfere with the venue speaker system — these are questions which could help save a disaster come wedding day.
What gear will you have with you? (if you are a little geeky?)
You may want to know they have that long lens in their bag to conquer the long hall or church tight shot. Wide shot for all the fun dance moves. They may/may not offer aerial footage.
How will you set up for the ceremony? Formal dances? Toasts?
Again, this may not be important to you but could be important info especially if you have extra time (since you already know exactly what you want!)
Will you light the dance floor?
Hopefully you will take a peek at their previous work and notice. If the dance floor is not lit you will notice, for sure. If it is lit properly you may not notice (which is a great thing).
If you’ve read thru some of these questions, scenarios, and potential misunderstandings/mishaps you can easily guess why this is a good thing to do. Now, to be honest – we (Perry Productions) do not do consultations with probably 50% of our couples. We will not meet them (in person) until the wedding morning. For us – it is fine, ALL of the above, you can probably guess where we fall. We probably would not encourage these questions be asked if we we had not given them great thought and have solutions to everything we have discussed. We are beyond confident to do our planning with couples prior to the wedding day, show up as professionals and with the proper gear, shoot for quality/style, and deliver on our final product.